


Stolen Hearts

by fangirl0715



Category: Brooklyn Nine-Nine (TV)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Female Reader, Hurt/Comfort, Kidnapping, Original Female Character(s) - Freeform, Reader-Insert, Torture, Whump, hurt reader, injured reader, x Reader, y/n
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-17
Updated: 2020-12-24
Packaged: 2021-03-10 01:28:38
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 8,358
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27595505
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fangirl0715/pseuds/fangirl0715
Summary: You and Jake have been friends for most of your lives. You have been dating for just over a year now and have yet to seriously delve deep into partnership.When you are kidnapped by a perp who has it out for you, can Jake and the rest of your team at the 9-9 find you before it's too late?
Relationships: Jake Peralta/Reader
Comments: 10
Kudos: 42
Collections: Brooklyn nine-nine (TV)





	1. Lost in love and I don't know much

**Author's Note:**

> Hey folks!! This is the first fanfiction I have ever posted on ao3 and the first fanfiction I've shared online for like 8 years. I hope you guys like it!! I would love any feedback in the comments. Also I will be trying to post more of my works on here soon!  
> Feel free to follow me on   
> tumblr: supergeekfangirl
> 
> I would also love to thank and give a huge shoutout to my friend and beta reader Indie!  
> You can check her out on the accounts below!  
> ao3: sleepers  
> tumblr: sleeperbusiness

You grimace as you weakly grip the armrests on either side of the chair that you’re tied to. You feel the energy leaching out of your body as you struggle to keep your eyes open.

A gentle throb resonates at the back of your head where you had been struck by a blow just hours before. As you turn your head towards your captor you cringe at the stiffness of the skin around your neck, a track of dried blood trails down your head that stops between your shoulders. You hit the man with an icy glare as you spit your words out at him.

“When the members of my squad find you and see what you’ve done, you’ll be lucky to see the light of day again. It’s a pretty boneheaded move capturing and torturing a detective in the NYPD. You’ll be sorry.”

“I’ll believe it when I see it.” He huffs out as he finds your threats humorous. “Now how about we leave a message for your friends on that pretty face of yours.”

You see a flash in the corner of your eye as he twirls what you assume to be a knife by his threat. Before you can react, you feel the cold sting of the tip of the blade as he lightly presses it into your fleshy cheek and starts to drag it downwards. A cry of pain leaves your lips before you think to hold it back, the man lets out a deep chuckle as he pulls the blade away satisfied with your reaction.

“Fuck you buddy.” You huff out not being able to hold in your anger.

Your face burns as he brings the back of his hand across your cheek. Your mouth fills with the coppery taste of blood as your teeth come down on the inside of your cheek.

“You should think before you speak pig! What kind of preservation skills do they teach you at the academy?”

The man sneers at you as you wince hanging your head down, hair covering your face. He quickly turns away now bored of your interaction; you mutter quietly as his back faces you. Still on edge he whips his head around.

“What was that bitch?” He struts toward you head held high chest protruding like a chicken. You mumble again hoping for him to come closer. The man digs his nails into your chin as he wrenches your head up forcing you to make eye contact with him. Exactly as you planned.

Before he can say anything else you use all the reserves of energy you have left to spit blood directly in his face. He sputters and falls back on his backside as he jumps back disgusted by your actions. He rakes his hands haphazardly across his face trying to remove the residue.

You erupt into thunderous laughter as you turn your crimson grin towards the man covered in your blood. The man sees red as he jumps to his feet, he arcs his fist downwards, putting his full force into the swing descending onto your face.

As his hand connects a burst of fiery hot pain starts in your jaw and travels up the side of your face. The sheer willpower behind this punch sends you and the chair you are restrained to sailing backward, for the second time that day you see stars as your head is met with an unforgiving force. You barely comprehend the pain as you descend into the murky blackness of unconsciousness.

~~~~~

**24 hours earlier**

The day started like any other day at the 99th precinct. With not many open cases, it was an all-around slow day. All detectives, but one, were completing paperwork quietly at their desks.

All detectives except of course, the rambunctious Detective Jake Peralta, also known as your adorable yet extremely annoying boyfriend. It was 11:30 and Jake had been annoying you to take your lunch break together (as you always do) for the last 20 minutes.

“Y/N!” he whined, rolling his chair next to your desk. He spun in circles as he pouted at you with his big brown eyes, desperately trying to get your attention. You sighed and tensed your shoulders as you turned to face him.

“Jay, I can’t handle your endless nagging! I had to rewrite the same sentence about 30 times, I can’t hear myself think!” You threw your hands up in the air and he pouted even more, which you were surprised was even physically possible. You turned back to your work as he continued to whine.

“But n/n I’m hungry and bored, I didn’t even have a chance to grab breakfast before you took me back to my place this morning.”

The hair on the back of your neck stood up as his piercing voice hit your ears.

“Someone’s in a whiny mood.” You said with a chuckle not removing your eyes from the unfinished case report in front of you. Jake could be so needy sometimes. You mostly loved it, but you had no time for his attention issues when you became hyper fixated on your work. You were in the zone today trying to quickly close a case you had been on with Rosa.

“Tell me about it.” Your body jerked slightly and your heart rate increased as the small man, Charles Boyle, spoke out of nowhere, as is his fashion.

You looked up to Charles’ smiling face staring adoringly at the two of you. “He’s been whining to me about you all morning, don’t worry Y/N I told him not to complain, you two are perfect for each other. Actually, what I did suggest was for him to buy a bottle of that lavender shampoo you like. I keep saying that cleaning your partner's hair can solve any problem, and it’s the most sensual experience two people...”

“CHARLES!” you and Jake both shouted at the man. Jake spoke before you could add anything else to the conversation.

“First, we don’t have any problems, especially none that can be solved with shampoo,” he chuckled lightly, used to his friend’s dramatic flair, “Second, I was not whining about Y/N, I just gots to eat.” He looked at you with a sweet smile that made your heart flutter in your chest.

You momentarily abandoned your paperwork, the ghost of a smile on your lips as you looked at your adorable boyfriend. He always got like this when he felt restless.

“It’s fine babe, why don’t you and Charles get lunch without me today? I’m a little swamped with the paperwork for that B and E that Rosa and I just closed. I know how you get when you’re hangry.” You chuckled thinking about how jittery, unproductive, and annoying Jake got when he forgot his snacks at home. You really should start keeping some in your purse for him.

“It’s fine, I can wait.” He stated as he rolled back to his desk across from you, trying to play the serious detective.

“Seriously babe.” You looked at him, “No pressure to wait for me. I can hear your stomach practically screaming from here. I’ll just grab something later. And when you get back, we can set up our plan for the Jacobson case.” A huge grin split Jake’s face in half. He grabbed his wallet and skipped over to you.

“You’re the best babe!” He said in a sing-song voice as he ruffled your hair and kissed you on the cheek. “Come on Charles, lunch!” Jake shouted across the room to his doting friend throwing a fist up dramatically as he exclaims.

“You ready to go to town on some moist meat Jakey?” You could just make out Jake scream “Charles!” as they exited the bullpen.

Once they’re both gone you hit the grind determined to finish the report before 12:00 so you can get your own lunch.

~~~~ 

You jumped as your phone rang, knocking you out of your daze. You didn’t know how long it had been since Jake and Charles left for lunch. You quickly answered the phone without looking at the caller ID. “Detective Y/N L/N.” You said without removing your eyes from your paperwork.

“Is that any way to greet the best detective at the 9-9, AKA your ridiculously good-looking date mate?”

“Best detective at the 9-9, I didn’t realize I was dating myself.” You quipped back.

“Y/N!” he said with a gasp. “It’s always the ones you love the most who can hurt you the deepest.”

“Jake.” You whined. “I’m busy, come on, what’s up?”

“Ok, ok back to business. There was another sighting of our perp last night. I know we said we’d talk about it when I got back but I just got the call. Apparently, he was skulking around looking supes suspicious. The uniformed officer caught a glimpse of his face before he went running off.”

“Alright Jake, how do you wanna go about this?” Your tone of voice changed as you abandoned your almost finished report. You and Jake had been on this case for 3 weeks, you had been so close to solving it and were now eager to wrap it up. You had your man in custody just 48 hours ago with enough evidence to certainly convict him.

The perp in question, Miles Jacobson was arrested under suspicion of being a hitman associated with a local crime family. You and Jake had been looking into the deaths of several known rivals of this family when you linked the same man to all murders.

Jacobson had been arrested four times for homicide but was never convicted due to the supposed technicalities and mistakes in the evidence pointed out by the defense. This time though you knew you had him, Peralta and you were working exactly by the book from the start (which was your idea, not to brag). That’s why as a last-ditch attempt of saving their guy the crime family allegedly orchestrated a plan for the truck transporting him to have an accident which led to his escape. Now their homicide case had turned into a manhunt.

“Where did the beat cop see that son of a bitch?” The annoyance in your voice was clear, this man had tread on your last nerve. You wouldn’t deny that a part of you was worried, before he escaped, he had made his distaste for cops and women very clear. You were both, making your dealings with him very uncomfortable. He blamed you for his arrest and was very aggressive towards you specifically because of it. 

Captain Holt had entertained taking you off the case, but you refused to let that asshole get to you. After some in-depth discussions with the Captain, you both agreed that you would stay on the case if you took extra precautions and removed yourself if you felt uncomfortable.

It was only to yourself that you would admit the man did in fact make you uncomfortable. And having him out on the loose had been making you paranoid.

Of course, you hadn’t been sharing these feelings with Jake, you knew you should, you just couldn’t seem to worry him. And you really didn’t want off the case, you were less scared with Jacobson out there when you were in control of his capture.

“That’s actually the most concerning part,” Jake started pulling you out of your thoughts, “he was really close to your apartment building when he was spotted last night.” Jake interrupted your worrying.

“Well that’s not creepy at all. What time was he spotted? Hopefully not when we were doing the deed.” You said with a forced chuckle, using humor as a thinly veiled attempt to cover up your obvious unease. You heard Jake’s deep chuckle resonate in your ear.

“You just read my mind babe! I love it when we’re vibing.” You huff out a laugh at Jake’s antics.

Regretting your divergence from the topic you try to be the adult. “Ok Jake let's be serious for 10 minutes.” You knew you had to get control now or you’ll lose him.

“Okay. It was late last night so no point in organizing a hunt for him now.” He said the strain in his voice was evident.

“Okay, we’ll have some uniforms patrolling the surrounding area of where he was spotted.” You had a lot of resources at your disposal for this. The mayor and the Chief Commissioner were breathing down your necks on getting this guy off the street. “How about a 4-block radius? 2 patrolmen every other road, pairs alternating roads every half-hour, he could have a hideout, or he may come back. Just to be safe. I’ll talk to the Captain and brief him on the matter, and get patrol schedules set up?”

“Sounds good to me. Hey… I was thinking…” He sputtered as he tried to get his thoughts out. “Maybe you could stay at my place tonight. I don’t like the idea of you being home alone when a hitman with mob connections that has a grudge on you is out there, he specifically said he hated you.”

You chuckled at the bluntness of your boyfriend, but your heart swelled at the concern for you in his voice. He may be a goofy man-child, but Jake really was the sweetest guy. You started to twirl your hair absentmindedly as you talked to your adoring boyfriend, a slight dusting of pink adorned your face.

“Aw Peralta, are you worried about me? You don’t think I can handle myself?” You questioned with a flirty lilt to your voice.

“Only when hitmen are involved do I question your badassery Y/L/N, only then.” Jake returned your sass full force. “It’s not just that, I need a partner to binge Netflix with. So, Y/N L/N will you help me get my binge on?” You let out a chuckle as he tried to make light of a serious situation, something he was very good at.

“Okay, okay. I could never let you binge without me. Not after Criminal minds.”

“How many times do I have to apologize for that n/n!!” He whined.

“Jake, how can I trust you now, you watched ahead without me!”

“I’ll never do it again, I swear.” You giggled as you imagined Jake’s face as his voice reached a new octave struggling to defend himself.

“Fine, I’ll give you one more chance. But you better not do it again, I can only give my T.V. trust to so many people. I’ll head over to my apartment for my lunch and grab a few things I’ll need. That way we can head straight to yours after work.” You had a few things at Jake’s apartment but not everything you wanted was there.

“Y/N!” Jake gasped. “Go get your lunch it's almost 1!”

“Jake don’t get your panties twisted, I’ll head out after we hang up, and I’ll talk to the Captain.” You hadn’t noticed how hungry you were until Jake said something.

“Alright... well, be careful. Text me when you’re done at your apartment. Charles and I are after a lead for another case but we’ll come pick you up so you can leave your car at your place tonight.”

He talked about you staying over at his apartment so nervously. You’ve stayed at his apartment many times before for lesser reasons, yet he always acted nervously, unsure if you would say yes. He stayed at your apartment more often than not, but he still got nervous about asking you to stay at his. You think it’s cute, you love the vulnerability that he shared with only you. Honestly, if it were up to you, you and Jake would have moved in together months ago, into your apartment of course, his left much to be desired. You pretty much lived together already; you couldn’t remember the last night you spent the night alone at your place.

You smiled thinking about how happy he made you. You never wanted to be apart from him, you would be incomplete without his crazy personality by your side.

“Alright, I’ll head out now, love you Jay.” You stopped and immediately regretted your choice of words.


	2. I’ve been loving you too long

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm happy people are reading this!! Here's chapter 2 for you!! Let me know what you think in the comments, all kudos and comments are greatly appreciated.  
> Again feel free to follow me on tumblr: supergeekfangirl 
> 
> Thank you again to Indie for being a great Beta reader, and helping me to get this next chapter out to you all.  
> Check her out on the accounts below!  
> ao3: sleepers  
> tumblr: sleeperbusiness

“Alright, I’ll head out now, love you Jay.” You stopped and thought back on what you had just said, how could you be so stupid! “Bye.” You said quickly hanging up before Jake could say anything.

You and Jake had been dating for a little more than a year, yet the two of you had never said the l-word. You had been ready to say it for ages, but you had been waiting for him to make the first move.

You had been best friends for 20+ years before you had taken your relationship to the next level, if you hadn’t grown sick of each other by now, then you probably never would. 

_It was not about worrying you were rushing things; you were confident in where your relationship was at._

Not that your relationship was perfect, he annoyed you to no end. Yet you had confided in the girls at the 9-9, if Jake were to get on one knee right now you would not hesitate to say yes.

_It was not about worrying it would ruin your relationship, you were a solid pair._

You didn’t want to make him feel any pressure to be verbal with his love for you, you didn’t need him to say it to know how he felt.

_It was all about not wanting to pressure him to be conventional._

You knew about the family issues with his father and you had experienced firsthand how it affected him as a child. You knew he was uncomfortable by expressing his emotions. Your worst fear would be that you would make him feel uncomfortable with you saying you loved him. At least he hadn’t said something dumb like ‘smort’ or ‘noice’, although you didn’t really give him a chance to try.

You would be the first to admit that letting your boyfriend take the reins on this whole situation had gotten a tad out of control, a year later and you thought he would never say it. It was almost like you two had both waited too long, there’s no way either of you could have said it for the first time without it being awkward. Like teenagers who had never spoken the words out loud, too afraid to make the first move.

You hadn’t been thinking straight as you blurted it out. Too mushy and overcome with emotion with how cute your boyfriend’s concern for you had been, you accidentally dropped the bomb.

“I’m such an idiot!” You yelled to no one in particular as your head and arms came crashing down onto your desk dramatically.

“What’s wrong Y/N?” Amy asked. Her eyes widened as she looked at you from her desk as someone else approached you from your side.

“Yeah what’s got you acting like a crazy person?” Rosa questioned in her rough yet concerned voice.

You didn’t look up as you spread your arms across your desk and let out a low groan. You heard a squeak as Amy got up from her chair.

“Ok, now I’m really concerned, what even was that?”

You mumbled an unintelligible response.

“L/N, can you speak clearly?” Rosa said gruffly, raising her voice in annoyance.

“I told Jake that I loved him.” You blurted lifting your head off the desk slightly as you looked at your friends. What met your eyes didn’t help your case, you saw the bewildered and confused faces of Amy and Rosa.

“Why’s that a bad thing? You guys are so cute together, adorable. You actually manage to make Jake act semi-adultlike.” Amy consoled you, even Rosa joined in.

“Yeah, you’re being an idiot, Jake 100 percent loves you. Why are you being weird about this?” Rosa knew something was up, she started giving you the third degree wanting to know more.

“We’ve never said it before.” You started nervously, embarrassed by the unconventional progression of your relationship. “I said it, paused, said bye, then hung up before Jake could say anything!” You dramatically groaned and threw your head down on the desk again.

“Somebody’s having a crisis. Why wasn’t I invited to the breakdown party, via Y/N’s sanity? Has anyone documented this one yet?” Gina finally made her entrance at your second groan.

“Y/N told Jake she loved him for the first time on the phone then hung up before he could get a word in.” Amy explained to Gina. You let out another groan. All 3 girls chuckled at your antics, they were used to your dramatic behavior.

“Is it as bad as it feels?”

“Babes, Jake has told me that he loves you before. Turns out _your_ relationship is actually the little boy holding little girl’s hand emoji.” You chuckled at your quirky friend. You had known her for longer than you could remember, you, Gina, and Jake had all been friends growing up.

You became friends with Gina first, through your mom and hers. They were both single mothers trying to successfully raise their young daughters. They felt that being friends with someone in the same age range and the same situation would offer good support. You and Gina had met Jake in elementary school, it was just a coincidence that a few years later he would be raised in a fatherless household as well.

Though you had your differences (personality-wise you got along better with Amy) Gina had been a good friend to you over the years.

You looked up at Gina red-eyed. “You really think so Genes, you’re not just saying this because I’m having one of my signature freak-outs.” Gina came over to you with a rare sincerity reaching her voice as she sat on your desk and started to play with your hair.

“n/n you and Jake are the 2 people I know the best in this world. I know for a 100 percent fact that Jake has been in love with you since we were 10 years old. He told me after that time you fell off your bike at school and broke your arm. He was so worried when the ambulance took you away. I swear on the velvet vocal cords of Beyoncé herself that he said this exactly, ‘Gina n/n can’t die! I love her and we’re gonna get married one day.’” She mimicked a young Jake as she clutched her hands to her chest. “It was sickeningly adorable now that I think about it.”

You laughed, sitting up straighter in your chair. “You never told me that before.” You answered with a sniffle.

“Well I was saving it as a blackmailable moment, but unfortunately the situation called for it. It’s truly a damn tragedy.” She said with a sigh.

You looked up around you and saw all your girls staring back at you. “Thanks girls I feel so much better. The stress of my workload was just getting to me and I was so embarrassed. You guys are the best. Thanks for putting up with my neurotic ass.”

You were interrupted by the dramatic growl of your stomach. 

“Girl you need to fuel that bod of yours!” Gina exclaimed with a laugh.

“Oh shoot!” You jumped up from your chair refueled by Gina’s comment. You hurriedly grabbed your purse and phone “I completely forgot! I’m supposed to be grabbing food before I swing by my apartment to meet Jake. I’ll see you all later!” You yelled back to your friends as you hurriedly slipped into the elevator, you could just make out the voices of your friends and colleagues yelling ‘bye’ to you as the elevator doors closed.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Not wanting to delay yourself any further you decided to forgo lunch before heading over to your apartment. You were sure there was something that you could quickly grab at home. It was not until you had left the underground parking lot and had been driving for 5 minutes that you realized you forgot to brief the Captain on the Jacobson case before you left.

Not wanting to turn back you decided a phone call would have to do.

“Captain Raymond Holt speaking.”

“Good afternoon sir, I wanted to update you on a change in the Jacobson case. Last night we had a confirmed sighting. Peralta and I want to request a rotating uniformed officer patrol in a 4-block radius of his last seen location.”

“How many uniformed officers would you require for said patrol?”

“We were thinking of at least 4 pairs and having them patrolling alternate streets rotating every hour.”

“4 pairs seem to be an adequate number of teams; I will inform them of their task and draw up an appropriate schedule. I believe that is all the information other than the appropriate location I need from you Detective L/N.”

You paused; you had forgotten you had to tell the Captain that Jacobson had been seen by your apartment. You knew he would not react well to the new development; he had already been gunning for you to take yourself off the case (promising he would not force you off it). Of course, you were too stubborn for that. You had no choice, you had to tell him. The only thing you could do was hope that you could phrase it in a way that made him less mad.

“Uhm…well…” you started hesitantly, “He was seen just down the street from my apartment.” You gave him the closest address to where he was spotted. He paused; the silence felt like it stretched out for hours. Your heartbeat increased; your palms started sweating as you gripped the steering wheel. Any form of disapproval from your Captain causes your anxiety levels to rise drastically.

“Oh… I see.”

You recovered quickly as you tried to lessen the blow. “I’m gonna stay at Jake’s place until Jacobson is brought into custody, just to be safe.”

“Very well, if you will not be in the area then I see no reason to be concerned. I do request that once you return to the precinct that you will always remain with one of your fellow detectives. And with Peralta during your off-hours. This should not be a problem I assume?”

You decided not to divulge that you were currently in the area Holt was concerned about and alone. You could see your apartment just ahead of you. It was times like these that made you grateful for living roughly 10 minutes from the precinct.

“Seems perfectly reasonable to me sir. Thank you for setting up the patrols.”

“It is my pleasure. But do be careful Y/N.” The use of your first name ingrained the seriousness of your situation into your brain. The Captain was seriously concerned for you. You decided to call Jake after your phone call with the Captain that way he could make his way over to you right away.

“I will Captain, bye.” You ended the phone call hesitantly, it left you feeling much more uneasy than before. The concern in the Captain's voice made the situation much more real to you.

You pulled into the underground parking lot of your building. Your anxiety levels were skyrocketing. You knew that if you heard Jake’s voice your heart rate would start to decrease back to its normal rate, but you just couldn’t cue up his number on your phone. Regardless of how better the girls had made you feel, you still felt very hesitant to talk to your boyfriend. You were just embarrassed at this point with how you handled it. It shouldn’t have been that big of a deal, it’s just a word.

As you approached your designated parking spot, you were confused by the larger van that took up the space two down from yours. The spot belonged to Mrs. Williamson, the woman who lived down the hall from you. She didn’t own a car; you knew that because she had often let Jake park in her spot if he had his car when he stayed over. Your paranoid state found this concerning. You sat in your car and scoped out the scene around the van, not seeing anything immediately concerning you pulled out your phone.

 _Hey, at my place. Could you guys head over now? The Cap doesn’t want me alone._ **…**

You typed out your response to Jake. Hoping it conveyed your worry without sounding too urgent. You quickly added one more sentence before hitting send.

_Hey at my place. Could you guys head over now? The Cap doesn’t want me alone. I’m a bit nervous now._

Jake thankfully responded quickly. The hair on the back of your neck stood up as you got the feeling that you were being watched.

_Jakey: We just finished up. We’ll head over right now and should be there in around 15 minutes. Are you okay?_

_I’m ok. Just a little skittish after my conversation with Holt. I’ll head up to my apartment, text me when you get here._

_Jakey: Okay, see you soon._

With your phone clutched in your hand, you exited your car, not able to avoid getting out any longer. You could have sat and waited for Jake, but you felt silly being so paranoid.

You locked your car as you walked past the creepy mysterious van. You had a bad feeling in the pit of your stomach. The underground parking lot was eerily silent, not uncommon for the space (especially at this random time in the middle of the day). But the silence did nothing to quell your anxiousness.

As you continued to lengthen the distance between you and the van you found yourself starting to relax and let your guard down. That was your second mistake, the first being how focused you were on the mysterious van.

Just as you felt the tension leave your shoulders your head whipped forward forcefully as the back of your skull took a hit. You fell to your hands and knees gazing mournfully as your phone- your only way to call for help-skidded across the gravel floor just out of reach. You scrambled forward trying to grab it as you felt a hand surround your ankle wrenching you backward.

You grabbed at the ground, asphalt digging into the soft flesh of your palms; your hands burned as you desperately grappled for some form of resistance to hold onto. Using your fingers to grip the ground below you, you felt your nails being rubbed raw, hands slipping as they became coated with your blood. The pain was nothing compared to the animalistic panic that weighed down your chest. Your vision started to blacken around the edges as you dragged oxygen into your lungs aggressively. Your desperate hyperventilating echoed throughout the empty parking garage doing nothing to help you in the situation.

The person behind you grabbed your other ankle flipping you onto your back with ease. You saw red while you desperately clamored for a way out, flailing like an animal backed into a corner, you started to scream for help. You tried desperately to remember your training, but you were left hopeless with no way to dissuade the bulking man (who easily overpowered you despite your skills in combat) as he pinned you down with his full weight. You thrashed wildly desperately hoping to find a way out of the definite dire situation. 

As you gesticulated, you felt your foot connect with a fleshy surface, you brought your leg back and kicked with everything you had. A pain-filled shout erupted from your assaulter as you broke free from their grasp in the confusion.

You abandoned your phone and instead made a beeline to the door accessing the apartment building, you figured this was the only chance you had to escape. You felt a sharp pain when you dragged a breath into your lungs, a definite sign of your distress, you never ran faster in your life.

All seemed for not as someone took a hold of your hair that was tied at the back of your head just as you reached the door. You screamed as your assaulter wrenched your head backward by the hold they have over you, the skin on your scalp practically cried in agony at the harsh movement, you were certain you had lost some hair as your assaulter dragged you towards them. As you fell backward a man’s large arm slowly surrounded your throat.

The individual’s elbow began to press down on your windpipe, his forearm and bicep encircled your throat on either side, his other arm left your hair encircling and grabbing his own bicep. This tactic showcased advanced skills, you recalled from your previous hand to hand combat training. The individual was clearly pressing on your arteries hoping to lead to your unconsciousness.

You scratched at the assailant’s arm as you fought the death grip. You dug your nails into his flesh drawing blood. He grunted as he put more pressure onto your neck. Your vision began to ebb as darkness crept around the edges of your vision. You fought to stay conscious you didn’t know this man’s plans for you. Your arms went limp as you lost the will to fight, the darkness nearly consuming your vision. Your assaulter whispered in your ear just as you welcomed the blackness, leaving your last moment of consciousness uneasy while simultaneously clarifying the identity of your kidnapper.

“Heard you were looking for me _bitch._ ” The man snarled at you.

A name was your last conscious thought before you succumbed to the blackness.

_Jacobson._


	3. Reach for a star and I’ll show you a plan

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Good morning folks!! I'm finally getting up chapter 3!! Sorry for the long wait, I had exams to get through, but now I'm free, so you guys get a present. I hope you're all having safe and happy holidays.  
> Let me know what you think in the comments, all kudos and comments are greatly appreciated.  
> Again feel free to follow me on tumblr: supergeekfangirl 
> 
> Thank you again to Indie for being a great Beta reader, and helping me to get this next chapter out to you all.  
> Check her out on the accounts below!  
> ao3: sleepers  
> tumblr: sleeperbusiness

_JAKE’S POV_

Jake hated being apart from you. Especially when there was a hitman with a grudge against you on the loose. Growing up he never would have pegged himself for the romantic type, it wasn’t like he had the best model of a healthy relationship to learn from.

But everything with you just came so easy. You fit into each other’s lives seamlessly, if Jake were one to believe in soulmates-which he totally wasn’t, or at least would deny until his last dying breathe- he might have even said that you were his. You were his best friend, and he could not have imagined doing anything without you. The ring that burned a hole in his sock drawer proved this.

Your relationship was like so many of those rom coms you “forced” Jake to watch, Jake was honestly embarrassed by how many times he had been left a weepy mess by the often cheesy and easily guessed endings. But he would never change those moments for anything, the picture of domesticity during those moments the two of you held each other and let tears fall for the fictional characters’ love.

Of course, Jake had to work up the courage to suggest the two of you moving in together first before he popped the question. He hadn’t been planning on buying a ring, but when he saw it in the window of the jewelry shop, it called to him. He knew it belonged on your finger, he got excited and impulsively purchased it with no intention of proposing soon. He just couldn’t pass up on the chance to buy the perfect ring, though his bank account hated him for it.

When he got the call that Jacobson had been spotted near your apartment, his first thought was of the ring. Your jobs were too dangerous to wait to make the big moves in life. It was at that moment that Jake resigned himself to have the discussion with you when you were at his place tonight. He was determined to live with you if that was something you wanted of course. 

Jake hated being apart from you, once he met up with you at your apartment he vowed that he wouldn’t let you out of his sight until Jacobson had been caught and brought back into custody. 

“Alright... Well, be careful. Text me when you’re done at your apartment. Charles and I are after a lead for another case, but we’ll come pick you up so you can leave your car at your place tonight.”

“Alright, I’ll head out now, love you Jay.”

Jake’s heart stopped at the words he had been dying to hear leave your mouth. He thought you would never say it, he was beginning to question your feelings for him. Was he reading the signals wrong? Did you not feel as strongly for him as he did for you? He was left floundering not sure how to respond in the confusion. Just as he was about to respond with his usual deflection tactic, humor, you cut him off.

“Bye!” You shouted before you hung up.

Jake was left spluttering, not knowing if his delayed reaction had caused you to panic or if you had not even noticed that you had said it. Or worse, you didn’t wait for a reaction from Jake because the words didn’t have the same value for you as they did for him.

Relationships just didn’t come naturally to Jake. First, he misread his feelings for Amy as something more than friendship, that stint with Sophia, and now he was royally screwing up the great thing he had going on with Y/N.

He was brought out of his thoughts by Charles opening the passenger door of the car. Charles had gone in to process a piece of evidence for the case they were working on while Jake had stayed in the car to brief you on your new emergency information.

Jake had no time to recover and don his goofy carefree attitude.

“What’s up with the face bud?”

Jake’s silence was telling, he just really had no way of explaining what just happened. Charles was up to date on the progression of your relationship. Jake had confided his uneasiness about the two of you not having shared the L-word yet after all this time. Charles firmly believed that you were either being cautious for both of you, or you were just too nervous to say it. Jake had not told Charles that he was leaning more towards believing that you just weren’t there yet, and you may never be.

He didn’t want to scare you off, but he found it exhausting to filter himself. He had caught himself multiple times almost telling you he loved you. It felt childish now. He was in his 30’s but he often felt like a teenager when he was with you. The way you said it with such ease made him rethink his decision to delay saying it, he would have to talk to you about it at your apartment. But he really wished he could have said it back.

“No face Charles, this is my normal Jake face, see.” Jake smiled and gestured at his face. “Completely normal, not a worried face at all.”

“Jake please, we both know that I know exactly the way your face looks after you talk to Y/N. You always have this little smirk on your face and the biggest heart eyes I have ever seen. When are you going to stop dragging your feet and just propose already!” The smaller man swung his arms around dramatically as he countered Jake’s rambling. 

“Damn it, Charles! Fine.” Jake went quiet before continuing, “Y/N said she loved me okay.”

“WHAT!! And you weren’t going to tell me? What kind of a best friend are _you_ ? Come _on_ Jake.”

“Okay Charles, take it down a notch, it wasn’t that big of a deal. Now, can we please talk about something else?”

“I did not spend years watching your love ripen to see it spoil before you’ve even got a taste of it!”

“Ew Charles please don’t compare our love to ripening fruit.”

“HA! You admitted it! I knew it, I’m like those drug-sniffing dogs but I sniff out people in love. This schnoz is never wrong Jake, NEVER WRONG!” Charles sniffed the air as he scrunched up his face.

“Okay, okay, calm down. Yes, I love Y/N, I was just nervous to be the first one to say anything. It’s not like I had the best examples of healthy relationships in my life. So, I was being cautious. I don’t really wanna talk about it right now. Anyways did you get what we needed in there?”

“Fine, back to work talk. But tomorrow you better dish, bish.” 

Jake chuckled at Charles as he began to fill him on what he learned while he was inside.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

**20 Minutes Later**

Jake fished in his pocket for his phone just after the familiar sound of an incoming text message reached his ears. Jake hoped it was you telling him you were ready. Charles had just dropped off their last new piece of evidence; they were now sitting in Jake’s car waiting to go get you.

Jake pulled out his phone to see a notification from your contact on his screen.

_n/n: Hey at my place. Could you guys head over now? The Cap doesn’t want me alone. I’m a bit nervous now._

That’s not good. You had been rather calm about the whole ordeal up until now, if you were admitting your nerves to him then something must have really bothered you. You often had a bad habit of hiding your worries from Jake, not wanting to upset him. Your anxiety stopped you from sharing, you didn’t want him to feel obligated to help you with your stressors.

He immediately felt guilty, he had been taking your voiced feelings at face value. Of course he knew you were worried, you’d have to be crazy not to be. But he hadn’t realized how stressed out you had gotten.

The last time you had finally admitted to him you were stressed, you had let it get to the point where you were having a full-blown panic attack and needed his immediate help. You had been practicing better coping mechanisms with your therapist since then, but no matter how hard Jake tried to convince you, there was still a little piece of you that couldn’t have Jake help shoulder your burdens.

It had been this way for as long as Jake could remember. The number of times Jake only found out about something bothering you because he happened to walk in on you breaking down was staggering. It all stemmed from your childhood, growing up with a single mother who was working three low wage jobs just to make ends meet, you often hid and repressed your bad thoughts and feelings. The last thing you wanted to do was burden your already stressed mother.

Jake had taken to openly voicing his worries to you, he hoped that this would encourage you to do the same. It seemed to be working and your communication with Jake had been improving. That was why Jake hadn’t been pushing you about the whole Jacobson ordeal, he figured that the added stress of his questioning would only stress you out more.

Jake drafted a text as he tried to find the best way to respond without conveying his true worry so it didn’t upset you further.

_We just finished up. We’ll head over right now, should be there in around 15 minutes. Are you okay?_

Your response came back quickly thankfully.

_n/n: I’m ok. Just a little skittish after my conversation with Holt. I’ll head up to my apartment, text me when you get here._

Jake really wished you would wait for him to get there, but he knew any suggestion of this would only worry you more.

_Okay, see you soon._

“Okay Charles, off to Y/N’s.”

It took them even less time than Jake thought to get to your place. In less than 10 minutes Jake could see your apartment building just up the road.

Jake was almost relieved; he couldn’t shake the uneasy feeling that something was wrong. As Charles pulled into the underground parking lot Jake was confused at the large white van parked in the parking spot your neighbor usually let him use.

Charles pulled into the visitor spots on the other side of the parking lot. Jake could see your car in your assigned spot, but he still couldn’t shake the feeling like something bad happened. Jake often trusted his gut feelings so he practically jumped out of the car as Charles put it in park. He made his way over to your car and decided to call you to let you know he was in the building in case you wanted his help to carry anything down to the car.

He stopped dead in his tracks, heart pounding in his throat as he heard the distinct tinny sound of the funky cold medina (the ringtone you had set for him) reverberating from under a car near yours.

In denial, Jake hoped it was a coincidence as he searched for the phone. He reached under the parked car; he was just able to touch it with the tips of his fingers. His hands were clammy which made it hard for him to get a good grip on the device. The only sound he could register was his heart pounding erratically, his mind became clouded by the sense of dread that filled his bones. He clutched his hand around the phone and dragged it out not wanting to look at it for fear of what he knew was true.

As he turned the phone in his hands over, he saw the notification for one missed call from Jakey<3 light up your distinct home screen.

Jake looked down at the two laughing figures on the screen. Charles had taken the photo in the precinct during the last Halloween heist. Both of you were disguised for your respective plans to win the heist, you were dressed up as a uniformed officer and he had a fake mustache and biker look going on. You were sitting on his lap cackling as he sat in his chair at his desk holding you and laughing just as hard. Charles had captured the carefree moment between the lovers, it was your favorite photo of the two of you together.

Your faces were fractured by the shattered screen that wasn’t there only hours before when Jake had last seen you. Something was seriously wrong. Even if you had dropped your phone you would never have left it.

Jake stood up trying to get his bearings, he walked towards the door to the stairwell that led up to your apartment, he needed to clear his head, there was no need to jump to conclusions before he knew there was something nefarious at play. After a minute he felt like he was finally getting his breathing under control until he decided to look down at his feet.

Blood.

His eyes zoned in on the fresh crimson substance on the tarmac under his feet. The blood was still bright and looked slightly wet, indicating that the struggle had taken place only moments before. There wasn’t much blood and the staining looked like ten distinct drag marks. It was as if someone had dragged their bloody fingers haphazardly along the ground. Jake would bet his last dollar that whoever the blood belonged to had been dragged by their feet across the parking lot. He felt nauseous when he thought about whose blood it was. He knew deep down that it was yours but he just couldn't stomach the thought.

Jake’s pulse had to have been borderline dangerous at that point, he pulled in rapid breaths as the edges of his vision started to go dark. He recognized the feeling of an oncoming panic attack and he knew he should have called Charles, but the only thought that echoed in his mind were the last words you spoke to him. Why hadn’t he said it back?!? 

Jake’s mind began to spiral as he thought about never hearing you laugh at him as he compliments your cute butt, never seeing you let Charles talk about Nickolaj for as long he wants while showing you hundreds of photos of the little guy (shooting him daggers across the room as Jake laughs at the predicament, you’re in), never hearing the lazy way you say good morning on your days off as you roll to face him in bed.

Jake was brought out of his nightmare situation by Charles’ concerned voice.

“Jake, is that Y/N’s phone?”

“Yeah.” Jake croaked out; he wasn’t even able to string a set of intelligible words together yet. He hadn’t even wanted to point out the blood to Charles just yet. He was almost on the verge of tears.

“We need to call Captain Holt. You’re not going to like what I found over here.”

Jake pivoted almost tripping as he rushed over to the figure of Charles as he leaned over next to your car looking at something Jake couldn’t see.

_Please god, don’t let it be her body._

Jake quickly rounded the corner, releasing the loudest breath of relief when he wasn’t met with your lifeless figure. He approached Charles slowly not ready to see what the older man had been so concerned about.

“I came to look for you after you ran over and didn’t come back. I found this when I came by her car.”

At their feet laying on its side was your bag, all the contents except three items were strewn chaotically on the ground behind your car. The other three items were laid out purposefully next to each other, they included an open tube of lipstick, your police badge, and your precinct identification card adorned with a red x through your photo. But that was not the most concerning part, next to the items was a message crudely scratched on the asphalt in the red lip pigment. Jake felt the air leave his lungs as he finished reading the message clearly left for him.

STOP LOOKING FOR ME OR ELSE

-Jacobson


End file.
